Shipping case



April 3, 1928. 1,664,477

J. B. HUNZELMAN SHIPPING CASE Filed June 26. 1925 iii) Patented Apr. 3, 1928.

QTFEE ET.

JOHN B? HUNZELMAN, OF "SOMERVIL'LE; MASSACHUSETTS; ASSIGNQR TO WM." F5 SCHRAFFT&;SONS CORPJ, OFBOSTON; MASSACHUSETTS, A-"CO'BZPOR1TION OF 'MAS= SACHUSETTS.

SHIPPING CASE. 1

Application .fi1ediJune-2G; 1925; Serial: No. 39,839.r.

This invention-relates toshipping cases Certain: commodities are disposed in small. boxes .or.-- acka es anumber of whichare a )acked to 'ether in a lar 'e rectan ular case b b r.

for;- shipment Some I commodities, as, I for instance, certain confections, arefoundito be:

more orrless damaged upon-arrival at their. destinatioin. even; though greatI care i is eXer-- cised 1n; packing the confections and .1n

providing strong shipping: cases. Investigat oirhas (llSClOSGCl the fact that damage 1s,

incurred, not while thewcases are beingtransported by car or=;trucl:, as might ordinarily; be espect-ed, but-when the: cases: are loaded into or unloaded from theconvey1ng,veh1cle.-

The .shippingpases are usually rectangular andhaveflat sides and-ends. lVhen-a case isend -and,to fall to the floor upononeof its side faces and, usually, it'sfbroade'st-facee The case, and its contents, acquire a considerable; speed just prior to striking the platform or floor, and the sudden, and violent, arresting of movement of the case causes the delicate contents of the case to become damaged or crushed by their own inertia.

This invention relates to means to prevent damage to the contents of the case by such treatment and has for one of its objects to provide a shipping case with means to prevent the sudden shock to its contents incident to the up-tilting and falling of the case.

A further object is the provision of a shipping case having means gradualy to stop the motionv of the case due to its Lip-tilting.

A further object is generally to improve the construction of shipping cases.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shipping case embodying the invention.

F ig. 2 is a sectional detail of the method of attaching a rocker removably to the case.

Fig. 3 is an end View of a stack of shipping cases embodying this invention and illustrating more particularly the manner of off-setting the rockers to permit compact stacking of the cases.

Fig. 4 is a View illustrating the action of the rockers.

Fig. 5is a view similar to Fig l but showing;,a..;,rockerapplied to each face' of the shippinggcase.

Theshipping case-embodying this invention is here shoWnwas-of rectangular form andcomposed of the flat end faces 10,,the narrow and: fiatside. :faceslfl, and i the-broad and flat side -faces l4, although the inventtion is-not necessarily limited to'a. case 'hav- I ing such :relative-dimensionsr The caseis mechanical-ly -strong and-iusually will be com? posed of wood.

In;accordaneewithithis invention the case is provided with means to preventwitfrom having -its A falling-1 :movement 1 suddenly arrested; and: the specific: means comprises rockers 16 which; are made --ofany suitable material, aswood, and are applied-to such faces otany particulartypeof case as may.

For the specific type ofbe found desirable. case-1; illustrated: the -rocker-s are applied to the (broad faces-thereof as it has beenhfound that; .usually;this.-.-type of .case -.is so handled. as tobe causedvtofall upon-one of. its broad faces: Saidrockers .preferably are approxi-: mately co-extensive with the length a of the.

case and are disposed.thereon-approximately parallelwithathe side-edges.- Said rockers are formed with flat faces 18, which are disposed against the flat sides of the cases, and with convex case-supporting outer faces 20 on which the cases are adapted to rock in falling and by which the case is gradually brought to rest without shock. Preferably the highest parts of the rockers are in the middle thereof and the rockers taper gradually and uniformly to the ends 22, whereat the rockers are thin. The rockers are secured to the cases, preferably removably, by any suitable means as screws 24 which extend through the ends of the rockers and into the ends of the cases.

The rockers are applied to the opposite broad faces of a case, preferably in pairs, although a single rocker on a. face is efl'fective. The pairs of rockers on the opposite sides of the case are staggered or off-set with respect to each other so that, when a plurality of cases thus arranged are superimposed in piles, the rockers of adjacent cases will nest one beside the other, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

When a case provided with rockers as above described is discharged from a truck as illustrated at a, Fig. 4, so that it will tilt about its lower edge Z) in falling, the ends of the rockers are first brought into contact with the floor or platform. Due to the convexity of the rockers, the points of contact shift from one end to the other of the rockers and the direct falling movement of the case is transformed into a rocking or oscillatory movement on the rockers, until the case gradually comes to rest without shock and damage to its contents.

Fig. 5 illustrates a shipping case provided with rockers on all flat faces thereof whereby protection is afforded to the contents of the case regardless of the manner in which the case is manipulated.

I claim:

1. A rectangular shipping case having flat side and end walls and straight edges and having at least one of its long side walls formed with a flat internal face and an outer supporting-face which is convex along its length only and is co-cxtensive with the length of the side wall between two of the straight edges.

2. A rectangular shipping case having opposed long side walls that have fiat internal faces and convex outer supporting-faces which are convex in the direction of the length and are co-extensive with the length of the side walls.

3. A shipping case having flat internal faces and fiat sides and straight edges and having a pair of spaced rockers fixed to and carried externallyby at least one side thereof and extended substantially co-extensive and parallel with the length of said side and terminated at opposed straight edges.

4. A shipping case having flat sides and having rockers carried on two of the op--- posed side faces of the cases, said rockers being disposed substantially parallel and coextensive with the length of said faces, and with each other, the rockers on one face being staggered with respect to the rockers on the other face.

5. A shipping case having flat sides and having a pair of spaced rockers on each of two of its opposed side faces, each pair of rockers being substantially parallel with the length of said faces, and said pairs of rockers being staggered with respect t0 each other.

6. A shipping case having flat sides and straight edges and a pair of parallel spaced rockers carried by one of said sides, each rocker having a flat face which is disposed against and is fixed to the flat side of said case and also having a convex case-supporting outer face, the rocker being thin at the ends and thick at the middle and extended parallel to the long dimension of the side with the thin edges terminated at opposite straight edges of the case.

7. A rectangular shipping case having fiat sides and ends and a rocker extended across and extended above one of said flat sides, said rocker being curved from end to end and arranged to arrest the fall of the case gradually when the case is tilted about that edge of the case adjacent one end of the rocker, whereby to reduce the shock of falling on thefragile contents of the case.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN B. HUNZELMAN. 

